


Chapter 9: The Marshal

by Celestial_Alignment



Series: Skydalorian [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Anal Fingering, DINLUKE, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Helmetless Din Djarin, M/M, Masturbation, POV Din Djarin, SKYDALORIAN, Smut, The Razor Crest is a jalopy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:09:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29233563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celestial_Alignment/pseuds/Celestial_Alignment
Summary: Din Djarin and Luke Skywalker are now married and embarking together on a quest to seek out Jedi artifacts, other Mandalorians, and train Grogu along the way. First stop: Tatooine.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker
Series: Skydalorian [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1912048
Comments: 31
Kudos: 243





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, did you know that I have written 8 total chapters for Skydalorian? Which means that this is my ninth chapter? Which means... Chapter 9: The Marshal.

They were sitting on the floor. Luke, on his knees, the flap of his black shirt hanging open to reveal the gray beneath his dark ensemble, both hands loosely on his thighs, one gloved. The child was sitting in front of him on a cushioned seat made of a folded blanket, his small legs folded somewhere in his brown clothes, tiny green hands in his lap. They faced each other, mirroring, staring in silence for hours now.

Din had been pacing, his patience gradually thinning with every passing minute. Luke politely asked him to stop huffing and moving around so much. So he moved to the opposite end of the hold with his pulse rifle to clean it, make sure it was well-maintained, and to just give his hands something to do. The ship was on autopilot, and speeding through hyperspace, so he didn’t need to be in the cockpit.

They were en route to Tatooine for repairs, since it was one of the nearest systems that Din felt comfortable landing on. He had at least one friend there. They were still a day away at hyperspeed, but the length of the journey was doubled with the regularity in which they had to out of lightspeed every couple of hours to let the ship cool. Every attempt to reroute power and cool the drives failed. Too many parts needed to be cleaned or replaced. From there, Luke had a short list of systems he intended to explore, to find more of the scattered artifacts of the Jedi. Wherever Luke went, Din would follow, to protect him and the child. Perhaps along the way, Din would be able to reconnect with other Mandalorians and their secret network through the galaxy.

Who would have thought a Mandalorian and Jedi would work together to pick up the pieces of their lost people…

At the moment there wasn’t much to do. At least he wasn’t alone in his waiting, though. R2-D2 was idling beside Din, watching Luke with the child, occasionally swiveling his domed head towards the Mandalorian, who would shrug one shoulder. Artoo would boop quietly and resume waiting. He’d gotten used to the sassy astromech. He might have been starting to like him a little. C-3PO, on the other hand, was thankfully sent home to Chandrila along with the Solos. He was, after all, the property of Leia, though the protocol droid was sorry to be separated from his astromech friend. Din wasn’t so sorry, Threepio had a bad habit of talking. A lot.

Finally, after hours of only the smallest hums from Luke, or squeaks from the child, the Jedi held out his hands. The child rocked forward, his hands on the floor so that he could stand, and he toddled into Luke’s arms. Cradling the baby against him, Luke rose to his feet. How he didn’t groan or wince from sitting on his legs for so long, Din was left to wonder.

The rifle was set down with a clatter and Din was on his feet meeting Luke halfway, Artoo twittered, his third wheel dropping out so that he could follow at Din’s heels.

“ _Well? How’d it go?_ ” He didn’t even know what “it” was they were doing in the first place.

“It went very well,” Luke said. “I’m afraid it wore him out, though…”

The child was blinking heavily at Din, but his ears twitched upward to see him. Din took his tiny hand between two worn leather-clad fingers.

“ _Bed time, pal…_ ”

Three little fingers gripped his thumb and his large eyes opened wide. The child was reaching for him and Din gladly took the responsibility. He relieved Luke of holding him and carried the tiny bundle to the sleeping berth were a hammock had been fashioned at the top of it, just the right size for the child. As they approached, the kid whined and grabbed onto the bunched up fabric at Din’s neck.

“ _Come on, I told you it’s bed time, no arguing…_ ” he was firm but didn’t raise his voice.

“He wants you to hold him until he falls asleep…” Luke spoke softly. “We revisited a lot of painful memories… You make him feel safe…”

Painful memories? Din thought back to the old pram he had first found the kid in that was half buried in junk like a derelict piece of furniture, the thugs who were keeping him, the Imps who were after him. He couldn’t even begin to know what he had been through in his fifty years of living.

“ _What… kind of painful memories?_ ” he asked haltingly. 

Luke was looking at the child, who couldn’t quite keep his eyes open. “He grew up in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant… There were thousands of Jedi back then, many masters trained him… There was a massacre, and someone rescued him. His memories after that are… confused. Dark. He’s been so afraid for so long, he’s been hiding his abilities with the Force. Until he met you, of course.”

“ _The Jedi were massacred?_ ”

He knew that Luke was on his own mission to find anything he could on the Jedi. What he didn’t fully realize until now was that they were hard to find because they had been systematically wiped out. Like his own people.

Luke only nodded. “Obviously the Empire was behind it, but… Grogu doesn’t understand why it happened or who attacked them… That’s his name by the way. You know, before you start calling him something completely different.”

Din wasn’t going to live down thinking Luke’s name was Wormie for so long. But now the kid finally had a name.

“ _Grogu?_ ”

The baby cooed, snapping to attention, his ears perking up so fast that Din couldn’t help but chuckle. No sooner had he perked up were his eyes drawing closed again, his green apple cheek squishing against the beskar as he dozed off.

“ _What else did you talk about?_ ”

Luke smiled a little, and Din knew it was because he called it ‘talking’. He didn’t know what else to call it, though. All he knew was that they were communicating somehow.

“Well… You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to him. He once had friends and mentors, long ago… but you’re the only father he’s ever truly had. The bond is very strong between you and I think it’s what he needs to overcome his fear and completely open himself up to the Force again. With more training and testing, I can find out what he learned all those years ago.”

It was a lot to take in. Din had already accepted that he was the child’s— _Grogu’s_ father, even before it had ever been articulated. Now there was greater hope that Grogu would be okay, because Luke was there to teach him the things that Din knew nothing about. They were married now, Luke was his husband, and now also a father for Grogu. Everything was in place for a happy family. So why did it fill Din with such trepidation?

He sighed quietly behind the helmet and moved slowly to gently set Grogu in his hammock, making sure he was tucked in warmly, gently rocking it with one hand.

“What is it?” Luke’s hand was at the small of Din’s back.

“ _I keep thinking about what you told me about the Dark Side… You said it happens when someone’s angry or afraid. How am I supposed to protect him from that?_ ”

“Din…” Luke’s arm closed around his waist now. “You already are. So long as you love him, he won’t lose sight of the Light.”

No one ever put it into words, let alone Din, but it was true. He loved the kid as if he was his own. He stopped rocking the hammock as Grogu snored softly, his lips twitching in his sleep, probably dreaming about snacks. Without another word, Din led the way up the ladder into the cockpit with Luke close behind. Once they were inside, they were able to speak at normal volume again. The streaking lights of hyperspace flickered through the small cockpit, the bulkheads ringing in a way that they weren’t supposed to, but had become banal for the _Razor Crest._

Luke was quiet as he sat in the chair behind the pilot’s seat. “Training him isn’t going to be easy... He doesn’t want to do it.”

Din stared at him as he sat in the pilot’s chair. “ _Why not?_ ”

“He’s afraid the Empire will find him again. They did things to him before you rescued him... Took his blood, did tests on him… He doesn’t know why, all he knows is the pain and the fear… You said you never knew what they wanted him for?”

“ _No…_ ” he could hardly get the word out of his tight throat.

He remembered that day. How pale the kid was, how weak he was when Din carried him in one hand, killing any and all stormtroopers with the other. He had never been so sure of anything in his life than he was when he was saving that baby, breaking the Guild code and endangering his covert.

But it never would have happened if he hadn’t willingly handed the kid over in the first place. If there was one thing he remembered more vividly than the rescue, it was the look of confusion and betrayal on Grogu’s face when the Mandalorian let the Imps take him away.

He’s been trying to redeem himself ever since.

“He doesn’t blame you,” Luke said.

“ _What?_ ” 

“When you let them take him… he told me about it. He told me how you came back for him and singlehandedly stormed the place to break him out.” Luke slipped out of his chair to kneel in front of Din, looking up at him with those kind eyes. “You’re his hero.”

It was a little delayed that Din remembered they were married, and therefore, he didn’t need to hide his face. He was reminded when he thought about how kissable Luke looked right about now. Din lifted the helmet up over his head, his heart rate quickening as it always did when he removed it. It was easier each time, but he knew it would be awhile before he was completely at ease with it. Every second that it was removed, he was painfully aware of his exposed face like a constant alarm blaring through his skull.

Luke suppressed a smile as the helmet came off, and he gently took it from Din’s hands to set it aside.

“He’s dying to see your face,” Luke said. “You should let him see you. He’s your clan, isn’t he? Don’t you want to see him, too? With… your own eyes?”

“I don’t know if he’d understand…”

“He understands more than you think,” Luke chuckled as he sat up from his kneel. Swinging one leg over Din’s lap, he straddled him, his arms around his neck, his weight on Din’s thighs. “You know, Grogu knows it’s a helmet and not your actual face?”

Din felt kind of dumb. He honestly didn’t know what was going on in that little wrinkled green head. It was hard enough getting used to Luke seeing his face and knowing what he looked like, he hated the irrational fears that Grogu would look at him differently if he saw what was behind the T-Visor.

“Hey…” Luke’s hands were on his face, flesh and leather clad fingers. “It’s okay.”

“I know it’s okay,” Din tried to convince himself.

“The Force surrounding you practically rattles every time you get anxious, but without the helmet I can see it on your face. If you ever play Sabbac, make sure you keep the helmet on, because you give everything away…”

“I’ll work on that…” he was getting distracted from the conversation with Luke in his lap, those blue eyes on him.

He had known Luke’s eyes were blue, when he looked at him with the right setting of his helmet. But nothing compared to seeing them without the filter of the T-Visor. No one had ever looked at him like that.

He didn’t even need to ask, the Jedi seemed to anticipate everything. Luke closed the short distance between them with a kiss, lips soft and teasing.

Din’s hands were on the buttons of that black shirt, working them clumsily but with purpose. He managed to open the shirt enough to reveal Luke’s throat down to his clavicle. Din broke away from his lips to drag his tongue along that span of collar bone, dipping into the divot in between. Luke shuddered, the ever-calm Jedi’s breath hitching.

Luke reached a thin arm out towards the doors of the cockpit, his hand waving and closing them from afar. Din was finding that Force stuff to be more and more convenient in his life. Now, if they made any noise, it wouldn’t reach the sleeping kid.

Luke Skywalker was sweet, gentle, generous, and infinitely kind. Whatever purity exuded from him, however, included an insatiable lust that Din was introduced to the first day they met. Eager and impatient, always wanting some thrill or adventure, and finding both in Din Djarin. Truth be told, Din found it difficult to keep his hands off of Luke for very long either. Of the few intimate encounters he had had throughout his weary life, he never felt so free as he did with Luke. His husband.

Din unclasped his utility belt, letting it hang from the chair, and tore off his vambraces and gloves. As soon as his fingers were bare, he opened the rest of Luke’s shirt to expose his torso down to his hips, his hands indulging in the shape of him from his thin waist to his back.

Luke was looking at him adoringly, his fingers raking through Din’s unruly hair before they trailed along Din’s face, one soft skin, the other a leather glove, framing it from his temple to jaw, his thumb brushing over the hair on his upper lip. Din was so sensitive to any touch, especially to his face, that every caress electrified and melted him.

They studied each other lovingly, and Din was forgetting that his helmet was off, his mind quieting. Finally the ache was getting too strong. He kissed Luke, slowly but deeply. He ran his hands over Luke’s back, which was smooth and taut with muscle. His fingertips slipped down the length of his spine and teased at the crack in rhythm with their kisses, and Luke rolled his hips, grinding himself in Din’s sensitive lap.

He couldn’t believe his life had come to this. The endless saga of the galaxy’s turmoil snapping at his heels, the best and worst always falling into his lap. He had a child and a husband now that he would give his very life for. All he wanted in this moment was to give Luke everything.

One hand retreated from its place on Luke’s back, breaking the kiss just for a moment so that he could suck two fingers, wetting them generously. Luke’s lips were a little red from kissing, and he licked them hungrily as he watched. Din met those startling blues as he reached behind him again, digits slicking down his tail bone and to the sensitive entrance. He prodded gently at first, slowly pushing the tip of one finger inside. Luke grunted softly, tugging a little at the hair at the nape of Din’s neck.

He pushed his finger in to the knuckle, twice, three times, adding the second with just as much care. It was tight, warm, and he curled his fingers to tease inside and Luke shuddered with surprise. Din’s fingers moved faster and Luke was beginning to squirm on top of him.

“Din…” his voice cracked a little, his hands grasping at the armor, clamoring down to grope hungrily at the front of Din’s pants. He squeezed generously and Din grunted hard, there was practically fire in the palm of Luke’s hand and it was as demanding as it was loving.

“Wait…” Din’s voice was low, breathy. “Just you…”

“Hnh….?” Luke panted out the confused sound, pausing in his writhing.

“I want to make you come…”

He didn’t even know that was what he wanted till he said it. Nothing excited him more at this moment then the idea of watching Luke fall to pieces, alone, and Din having the knowledge that he was the one to do it.

“But what about you…?” Luke blinked, not seeming to understand through his lustful haze and with Din’s fingers still inside him.

“I want to do this for you…” Din smiled a little now, his eyes on Luke’s.

The Jedi still didn’t seem to understand, but he nodded, gnawing his bottom lip. Din pumped his fingers in again, curling them just so and Luke gasped hard. He seemed to quickly forget that Din sent him on this journey alone, he was wriggling again in tempo with Din’s hands, his own gripping for dear life at the cape on Din’s shoulders. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes closed, his mouth open. The panting was dissolving into small moans. He could see Luke losing that careful shell of control that he tried so hard to have and he was reverting back to the impulsive, needy boy that Din had first met on Tatooine.

Luke was reaching between them, desperately freeing his own cock from his pants to stroke himself with his flesh hand. Din’s blood heated to see Luke enjoying himself and losing himself. His own touch, coupled with Din’s, made him cry out and he bucked harder. Between his panting it sounded like he was trying to say Din’s name, but nothing articulate came out. Like a starving man, he kissed Din hard, mouths fixed but sloppy as he rutted and writhed in Din’s lap, whimpering and sweating now. It was enough to make Din close as well and he loved the madness that seemed to come over the Jedi. 

That prosthetic hand was painfully digging into Din’s shoulder and he liked it.

“Come on…” Din gently coaxed, his hand working fast in and out and he sucked on the other’s throat when his head lulled back deliriously.

“Din…” he whined. “I’m… I’m there… I’m…” Then he cried out, his body locking and quivering as he spilled his seed over his hand and beskar. He folded forward, still wracked with waves of tremors.

The release was enough to wash over Din, too, and he slipped his hand out with satisfaction. Luke was wilted on him, his head on Din’s shoulder where the pauldron couldn’t have been very comfortable. His arms had dropped limp at his side, and if Din didn’t know any better, he would have thought the Jedi was dead. 

He wrapped his arms around Luke, stroking the length of his back while he regained his breath.

Luke suddenly chuckled weakly. “Looks like I’m gonna have to return the favor sometime…”

Something began to beep in the cockpit and they both turned their heads to look at it. It was the same red light that screamed at them every time the hyperdrive began to overload. Din inhaled, and keeping Luke in his lap, swiveled enough to reach the controls, flipping switches and dropping them back into sublight. The bulkheads stopped ringing, a few things clicking and popping as they cooled.

“Having a half-functional hyperdrive really makes Tatooine seem as far away as it is…” Luke said quietly, his eyes dipped as he tucked himself back into his clothes and used his gloved hand to button up his black shirt halfway.

His bare hand was covered in his own mess, some of which had gotten on Din’s armor. Truth be told, the Mandalorian had had worse things on his beskar, and this felt like a badge of armor. A grease rag that was on the floor near one of the electrical panels fluttered through the air and into Luke’s hand.

Din wasn’t sure he could get used to the Force, he preferred the tangible things, like Luke’s firm thighs, which he kneaded lightly with each hand as Luke used the rag to clean him off. The Jedi stole one last kiss before he dismounted from Din’s lap. Luke folded the soiled rag into itself and carefully disposed of it, sighing heavily as he dropped into the passenger seat, a hand pushing through the blond mess on his head.

“It’s becoming a habit… Me cleaning off your armor…”

Din couldn’t help smirking as he reached for his helmet nearby. He balanced it on his knee for a moment as he checked the ship’s controls one last time. The hyperdrive was already beginning to cool. He could feel Luke’s eyes on him when he picked up the helmet again. He knew his husband preferred when it was off, Luke didn’t even need to say it, and was probably too kind to. But Din couldn’t stand having it off for too long. He pulled it back on, the confinement and the technology comforting and familiar.


	2. Chapter 2

Tatooine.

The _Razor Crest_ circled around over Mos Eisley, and even from this bird’s eye view, Luke could pick out the exact hangar where he had first laid his eyes on the hunk of junk known as the _Millennium Falcon._ The irony of returning in another hunk of junk was not lost on him, especially since the Crest was the ship he had originally wanted to leave on in the first place. He wondered how different his life would have been if Din would have taken him along. It felt as though everything happened as it needed to to bring them here, together, and Luke smiled softly as he held Grogu in his lap. The Crest keened a little in its landing and the child cooed as they leaned together in the sharp turn. Din piloted the ship into a smooth touch down, a feat that was nothing less than exceptional considering the antiquity of the vessel.

“ _The owner here is a friend_ ,” he explained as he swiveled, hitting the last few toggle switches, the ship letting out a low whine as it cooled. “ _We’ll be able to get some basic maintenance._ ”

Luke was looking out the transparisteel. From here, all he could see were the unremarkable domed rooftops of the building that surrounded them, the familiar sound of sand granules hissing against the hull, the dull yellow light of the planet shining through, even though the sky was blue.

Before he even stood from his seat, he used both hands to pull his hood over his head. He wasn’t entirely sure why he felt the need to be invisible on his own home planet, this place that he had tried to put behind him. He was trying to keep his thoughts from wandering to his Uncle Owen’s farm, where he knew he would feel the pull to darker emotions. That was the first true loss he had experienced in his life. He blinked away the memory of charred bodies surrounded by stormtrooper blaster fire.

Grogu whined quietly, and when Luke looked down, the child was twisted around in his lap staring up at him, large ears drooped. Luke regretted letting the little one feel the emotions, especially because Grogu had his own memories that were not so dissimilar. So Luke offered a warm smile to reassure him and breathed in peace so that he could breathe out darkness.

With Grogu on his arm, he followed Din down the ladder into the hold of the ship and the Mandalorian was taking something off a hook on the wall. It was a shoulder bag. He held it open and Grogu immediately knew what to do. With eager trills, he squirmed out of Luke’s arms and practically dove into the bag as Din held it.

Luke laughed. “You carry him in a bag?”

Din shrugged one shoulder, his helmet tipping in the action. With Grogu in the bag and balanced on one hand like a sack of flour, Din hit the ramp button. The pistons hissed as it opened and Luke had to hold his hood on to keep the hot wind from blowing it off his head. Artoo, who had no choice but to be confined in the hold, was whistling happily as he joined the small family. He followed a step behind Din as he descended the ramp, pit droids scurrying out from the piles of scraps to greet them, their tools ready.

“Alright! Hey, hey, hey— Gang! You know he doesn’t like droids!” A voice barked out at them. The pit droids stopped in their tracks.

Luke was smiling hard already. It was so odd to meet someone that Din called a friend, who at least knew him well enough to know his prejudice towards the machines. Artoo let out a squawk, his head swiveling as he watched the pit droids sulk away. There was a woman approaching them, clearly the owner of this hangar. She had the familiar weather worn features that Luke had seen in every person who lived here, tough by necessity inside and out.

 _“May as well let them have at it,”_ Din said as he approached her, a quick glance back to the ship. “ _The_ Crest _needs a good once over…_ ”

Din had a habit of understatement.

“Oh… so he likes droids now. You heard ‘im, give it a once over!”

The trio of pit droids heads were spinning, but they complied, clunking over to the ship. The woman propped her hands on her hips and looked from the Mandalorian to Luke, who must have looked more than a little suspicious in his black cloak. All concern and skepticism melted away the instant her eyes dropped to Grogu.

“Thank the Force!” She didn’t ask permission or tip toe around it, she was already reaching for the child, who was reaching back to her. The sheer joy from the woman to see the kid was genuine as she cradled him in her arms.

“Let me take a look at you, you little womp rat! I think it remembers me!” She lightly tickled Grogu’s chin with a finger, then her hard gaze shot back to Luke. “And what are you supposed to be? Another bounty hunter? Listen, if Mando vouches for you, you can stay, but I’m warning you!” She pointed a finger so sharply at him he was sure a laser bolt would shoot out of it. “You try any funny business like the last guy and I’ll drop you in that engine over there!” she nodded over her shoulder to a pod racer engine near by. It was attached to the seat of a speeder bike, not the first hybrid machine Luke had seen come out of a Tatooine scrap yard.

The last guy? Luke felt a pang, wondering if he wasn’t the first lover Din had brought through here.

“ _I do vouch for him,_ ” Din said softly.

“And I promise I’m not a bounty hunter,” Luke felt the need to add, offering his flesh hand towards her. “I’m Luke.”

She glanced at his hand, and with a demonstration of reluctance, took his hand with a grip that was much tighter than was necessary. “Motto. Peli Motto. Is Luke your name or occupation?”

He laughed and finally felt at ease enough to push the hood from his head. In fact he felt a little silly for wanting to hide in the first place. “Name.”

Peli was softening just a little now and she glanced to Din. “You gotta habit of collecting cute things!”

Now Luke was blushing and he felt the same from Din.

“If you need either of them off your hands, I’d be glad to oblige!”

None of it showed, but Din was amused, Luke could feel it. Meanwhile R2-D2 was idle beside Luke, tipped on all three wheels. His dome was swiveling curiously to look around the garage, and he let out a few beeps.

_Fweep-Boop!_

Another astromech replied from somewhere and rolled into view. It was an old R5 unit, and as it slowly rolled closer, R2 sped forward to meet it. The droids beeped and whistled at each other excitedly, and when Luke looked more closely, he realized why.

“Hey! I know that droid…” He approached the red and white R5 unit and lightly set his hand atop its flat head plate, The burn marks were still there. “My Uncle Owen and I almost bought him off some Jawas years ago… I thought he was completely broken…”

“Huh,” said Peli. “Small galaxy. I found him in a scrap heap awhile back. Most of his circuits were fried, but I’ve fixed worse… He’s slower than a granite slug, but he gets the job done, I guess…”

Luke looked to Din. “If this little droid hadn’t busted when he did, I never would have gotten Artoo…”

And that was the beginning of everything for him. He didn’t expect Din to follow the weight of that statement, and he wasn’t about to tell his life story to Peli Motto. He gave R5 one last pat and returned to Din’s side. 

“ _I think we’ll head over to the cantina to get the little one some food while we wait…_ ”

“Nonsense!” her voice carried far with very little effort. “I got food and drink right here! Cards too, if you’re not afraid of high stakes.”

Bouncing Grogu a little in her arms, she waved them to follow her inside. Luke hesitated just long enough to look to Din’s T-visor, his husband nodding his head towards their hostess.

Artoo was still talking excitedly to his fellow astromech, and though Luke didn’t have a text translator or Threepio handy to translate, he got the impression that Artoo was catching up with his old acquaintance.

“It’s all right, Artoo, you can stay out here and keep an eye things for us…”

_Woo-wee!_

The droids cheerfully replied and Luke walked with Din to follow Peli.

“See that speeder bike with the pod racer engine?” 

She was talking before they even joined her indoors. She set Grogu in a chair in front of a small table that was scattered with bolts and washers, a layer of dust and grease on it. Luke and Din looked at the speeder bike in question, she continued without a response.

“The guy I’m fixin’ it for might be a friend of yours. Or enemy. Not sure what you have more. But since we go back, I thought I’d give you a fair warning.”

She pushed the top half of a scrapped droid onto the floor and patted the dusty seat. “Sit down, Sunspot…”

She could only be referring to Luke, and he hated to be rude. He sat in the chair.

“ _What makes you think I know this person?_ ” asked Din as he sat in the chair that she pulled out for him, knees apart, one elbow on the table.

She waved a hand at him vaguely. “All _that_. He’s got Mandalorian armor. Thing is, I thought you guys weren’t supposed to show your faces.”

The air congealed around Din and his shoulders squared under the pauldrons. Luke shared his confusion, but not the rage.

“Did he say he was Mandalorian?” Luke asked.

“Nope,” she was digging in cabinets, pulling out a jar here and a jar there. “He came all the way from Mos Pelgo, apparently. I didn’t think the place still existed. I dunno what brought him all the way here, but his bike needed a tune up.”

“ _Where is he?_ ” Din’s voice was low.

“He’ll be back in the next hour or two. At least that’s when I told him to be here…” She had a bowl and was pouring the brown contents of one of the jars into it, the chunks splashing and splatting.

Luke recognized the sight and smell immediately and his stomach growled. That was Bantha Steak Stew! He and Grogu were leaning a little closer to it. However, the flames in the Force around Din was alarming.

“We should talk to him,” Luke said softly. “He could be Mandalorian, or maybe he knows where we can find one.”

“ _He isn’t_ ,” Din said coldly. “ _Not if he is removing his helmet._ ”

He didn’t like the way Din was reacting to this, and it was all just hearsay. He reached across the dusty table to place a hand on his husband’s arm.

“Let’s just eat, and if he comes we’ll _talk_ to him… Okay?”

It wasn’t okay. Not for Din, at any rate.

Peli set a bowl in front of Grogu and put a large metal spoon into his three fingers. The baby had some experience with the utensil, even if the disproportionate size made it awkward. He carefully scooped up a large chunk of steak, balancing it on the spoon as he slowly brought it towards his wide open mouth, all of his tiny sharp teeth visible. Luke half watched Grogu’s efforts, half watched Din.

“ _Fine. We’ll wait._ ” Din finally said, a little too calmly.

Peli returned with two more bowls, one for Luke and one for Din, a couple of spoons set in front of them. She put her fists on her hips and stared at the Mandalorian.

“I need to go finish the repairs on that bike, I’m already losing daylight has it is. Eat up, Mando. If you need the privacy, I can take the kid outside with me… You too, Sun Spot.”

She was waving for Luke to follow her out. She didn’t question Din’s need to hide his face, and Luke found himself liking her more and more.

“It’s alright,” Din said. “ _They can stay. Thank you._ ”

Her brows rose with curiosity, and after a moment, she threw up her hands. “Okay, I can take a hint. I’ll be out there if you need me…”

She picked up a pair of goggles on her way out, and they could see through the window the view of the garage. The pit droids were scurrying all over the Razor Crest, pulling it apart for thorough maintenance, practically swimming in the wires and hoses that were spilled out of it. Luke lifted two fingers, using a gentle brush of the Force to close the blinds and seal them off from prying eyes.

All the while, Grogu was slurping and chomping on his Bantha Steak Stew, an occasional happy trill coming out of him. Once Din was sure no one would walk in, he lifted the helmet. Not to remove it, just enough to reveal his chin and mouth. With one hand holding his helmet, the other spooned up some of the steak. Grogu’s eating noises stopped immediately, his large eyes looking curiously, his ears perked up high. Curiosity and hope bubbled around him.

After a few spoonfuls, Din lowered his helmet again, concealing any hint of flesh beneath the shell. Grogu let out a small sigh and put his spoon on the table so that he could pick up his bowl with both hands. It was far too big for him to hold easily, and as he gulped down the broth, Din reached across the table to lightly hold the edge of the bowl, to keep Grogu from accidentally dropping it onto his own head. For being a lone adventurer, Din sure had the instincts of parenthood. Luke felt soft inside watching the two of them. Something was nagging at him, though.

“So, Din…” Luke’s chin dipped as he stared into his bowl. “Who’s the guy that Peli was talking about who caused the, uh… ‘funny business’?”

Din had the edge of his tattered cape and was wiping some stew from Grogu’s chin, the kid grunting with annoyance but not fighting it.

“ _I went into a deal with some kid trying to be a bounty hunter. He followed no codes and wanted the reward for himself without doing the work_.”

“What happened to him?”

Din’s helmet tipped a little. “ _First he killed the high-reward bounty we were supposed to take in alive. Then he threatened Peli and the kid._ ”

Din didn’t need to say it. That wanna-be bounty hunter kid was definitely dead. And yet, Luke still felt that nagging feeling.

“So… You two knew each other well?”

Din stared at him now, and Luke was sure he could feel his husband smiling at him. “ _Only knew him for about a couple of days, hated him every second._ ”

It was true, and Luke’s jealousy washed away as quickly as it came. It was childish, he knew. Din was allowed to have had past relationships. Luke hadn’t even had a bite of his own stew yet, and he finally remembered to eat some. He was just bringing the spoon to his lips when the door opened and Peli came strutting in, pulling the goggles from her eyes, she called back over her shoulder.

“Just gimme a minute to get your estimate!” She then closed the door and looked eagerly to them. “Hey, that Mandalorian guy is here! He’s back early, I told him to come back later when I’m done with his speeder bike…”

Din was on his feet, setting his chair aside and out of his path as he headed for the door. But Peli was blocking it with her small body.

“No killing in my garage! I don’t wanna deal with another dead body here!”

“ _Then I’ll take care of it for you._ ”

“Okay, deal.” She stepped aside and Din went out the door.

“Din!” Luke practically flew after him.

Luke had to blink hard stepping out into the sun after being in the darker interior. Slowly circling the speeder bike for inspection was indeed a person in Mandalorian armor. But it wasn’t armor like Din’s. In fact, it was armor that Luke had seen before.

Boba Fett! In an instant of pure emotional reaction, he grabbed his lightsaber, his thumb hovered over the ignition, but he stopped himself. It simply couldn’t be Fett. This person was different in every imaginable way. His height, posture, Force presence. But that armor was unmistakable.

Din hadn’t even noticed that Luke almost drew his weapon. The Mandalorian had his hand at his own hip.

“ _Can I help you, gentlemen?_ ” That wasn’t Boba Fett’s voice, that was clear even through the modulation, and the stranger was regarding them with both hands gripping his gun belt.

“Can I ask where you got that armor?” Luke spoke first.

“ _Bought it off some Jawas,_ ” said the stranger, his T-Visor facing Din. “ _You’re a real Mandalorian, aren’t you?_ ”

“ _You’re not._ ”

The stranger chuckled. “ _No… No, I reckon I’m not. That must really get sand in your gears…_ ” With two hands he pulled off his helmet and set it onto the seat of his speeder bike. “Look, I can tell you’re none too happy to see me wearing this armor, so we can either stand here starin’ at each other all day or you can tell me what’s on your mind.”

“ _Take it off._ ”

Vanth narrowed his eyes. “Or?”

“ _Or I will._ ”

Din’s hand was closing over the blaster on his hip, and Vanth noticed. The tension in the air was palpable and Luke opened himself to the Force. He felt Din’s readiness to shoot, and Vanth was equal to the task.

“I’m asking you both to not draw your weapons…” Luke spoke low, his voice gentle, but heavy with warning. “There’s no reason to fight, we can sit down and talk.”

“ _That armor doesn’t belong to him. If he takes it off, then I won’t fire._ ”

Vanth scoffed and shook his head. “I bought it fair and square, Mando. You people may be good at killin’, but I’m no stranger to it myself.”

Cobb Vanth was intensely possessive of the armor and Din was burning with insult and anger.

Neither of them so much as twitched any indication of backing down, and they didn’t take their eyes off each other. One willing—daring—the other to draw first. And Luke was standing in the middle of this stand off.

“You gonna back off and let me go my way?” Vanth asked slowly.

“ _Not without that armor._ ”

“All right then.”

Vanth and Din drew their blasters simultaneously, Din firing just a second quicker. Neither blaster bolt reached its mark. Instead, the sand off to the side spouted into the air from the impact. Luke stood with one hand outstretched. In the small distance it was quicker to deflect the blaster bolts with the Force than with a lightsaber, and all he had to do was knock them away at ninety degree angles.

Cobb Vanth’s face was screwed into a comical look of confusion, while Din's blank helmet looked from the frozen bolts to Luke, then back to the bolts. Then back to Luke. Rather than question why their shots didn’t land, they fired again. This time, the blaster bolts froze, hanging in the air as if suspended on strings, the power of their pressurized gas pulsing in the air around them.

“Put your blasters away, both of you.” Luke’s hand was out, holding the blaster bolts in place. Not since he was commanding forces in the rebellion did Luke have to adopt that tone of authority, and he felt a tingle of mixed reactions from Din to be on the receiving end of it.

Din was the first to comply, albeit reluctantly, and he dropped his blaster back into its holster. Cobb Vanth’s mouth was open as he finally did the same, his eyes wide as he stared at the frozen bolts.

“You doin’ that?”

Luke ignored the question, as he often did, to opt for ambiguity. “Are we ready to sit and talk?”

Cobb Vanth squinted. “I get the feeling I don’t got much of a choice.”

“ _You don’t._ ” Din regained his hostility, in his tone if nothing else.

Luke gave the slightest wave of his outstretched hand, using the Force to alter the trajectory of the blaster bolts before he released them. One hit the wall, the other hit the side of the Razor Crest, leaving a small pock mark.

“I’m Luke Skywalker. Can we get you a drink, Cobb?”


	3. Chapter 3

Peli Motto was kind enough to offer to watch Grogu while the men went to the cantina, but Din couldn’t get himself to take her up on it. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the woman, or appreciate her help in the past, but he remembered all too well what happened the last time he left Grogu alone in Tatooine. In general, he just simply could not feel comfortable letting Grogu out of his sight. So the kid came with them to the cantina. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t been in a den of cutthroats before, and he couldn’t possibly be safer than he was with Din Djarin and Luke Skywalker. They did leave R2-D2 to keep an eye on the _Crest_ , though.

They took a corner booth, Din and Luke sitting on one side with Grogu in the seat between them, Cobb Vanth across from them with his back to the rest of the cantina. Every moment that Din watched this person parading around in Mandalorian armor made him sick. He wondered what Mandalorian had been killed and stripped of his beskar, left in disgrace, their face revealed against their will. 

Vanth ordered a bottle of spotchka to share, but Luke ordered something without alcohol for himself and the kid. Blue milk of all things. Din skipped having any drink at all.

“Skywalker, huh?” Vanth said as he poured his drink. “Why do I feel like I’ve heard that name before… Your folks from Mos Pelgo? Mos Eisley, maybe?”

“My uncle raised me on his farm just outside of Anchorhead,” said Luke. “His name was Lars.”

Vanth’s brow furrowed with thought, then he shook his head. “Nope. Dunno any Lars… You seem to be a far cry from some moisture farmer, look at you!” He held up his glass as if to toast and took a large gulp.

“You said you bought the armor from Jawas,” Luke shifted the conversation after a heavy silence, both of his hands around his cup of blue milk, one bare the other gloved. “Did they happen to say where they found it?”

Vanth swallowed down a snifter of spotchka and gasped lightly after he swallowed it down. “No idea. I had a camtono of silicax crystals that they desperately wanted, and I had a mighty need for some good hardware such as this after my town was taken over by the Mining Collective. We made the trade. Rest is history.”

“I met the man who used to own that armor,” Luke said.

That snapped Din’s attention to him. “ _You what?_ ”

Luke leaned over Grogu to whisper to him. “Do you remember that Mandalorian bounty hunter I mentioned to you?”

“ _That’s his armor? Are you sure?_ ”

“I’d know it anywhere.”

“ _What happened to him?_ ”

“Well… He’s dead,” Luke shrugged helplessly. “He fell into a sarlacc pit.”

Cobb Vanth laughed into his drink. “Poor bastard.”

Din was stunned. How does a Mandalorian just _fall_ into a sarlacc pit? He was going to have to pry the details of this story from Luke later, clearly his husband didn’t want to share it with this stranger. 

“Anyway,” said Luke, “that armor is extremely important, Cobb. Is there any way we can work something out to get it?”

“No dice,” Vanth smirked and sank back in his chair, one arm behind him, the other on the table to lightly tap his drink. He was staring at Luke, that smug look still on his face. “Of course, if _you_ wanted to get me outta this armor, then we might have somethin’ to talk about…”

As far as Din knew, Luke didn’t have a lot in the way of money, and he surely wasn’t going to be offering up his lightsaber. Not that Din would let him.

“Oh, I-I… That’s not what I had in mind, I was thinking more of, um…”

Din had heard Luke flustered before, and it was usually for one reason. It was belated, but Din realized that Cobb Vanth was hitting on Luke. More than that, he was propositioning him and Luke was very clearly uncomfortable.

Din leaned forward, one arm on the table, his vambrace at the ready to fire the precious whistling birds, flame, whip cord, or a well-aimed fist. Whatever came first. The way Cobb Vanth’s eyes were devouring Luke made Din want to put a knife in them. There was a brief silence, interrupted only by Grogu slurping the last drops of his milk.

“ _Not an option._ ”

“Don’t hurt to ask...” Vanth shrugged and didn’t push the matter, he just took another swig of spotchka. “I’m gonna level with you fellas… This hardware ain’t for sale, negotiation, what have you. Thanks for the drink, but I got places to be...”

He flashed a sardonic smile and scooted his chair back, moving to rise. Din planted his hands on the table, ready to stand as well, when Luke’s voice carried through the noise of the cantina with a ringing clarity.

“You will give us the armor.”

Cobb Vanth stopped and Din thought his eyes seemed to glaze over.

Luke continued. “You’ll remove the armor, right now, and give it freely to us.”

“You know, I…” Vanth said distractedly. “I think I’ll just give you the armor…” His brow creased and he pulled off one vambrace then the other and set it beside the helmet.

That was easy. Din was glad to see the man take off the beskar, but it felt somehow… wrong. He looked to Luke who had never taken his eyes from Vanth. Did Luke do that? Were Jedi even able to do that? Maybe he was imagining it. He must have missed something in the conversation that suddenly changed Vanth’s mind.

Now Vanth was working on getting the jetpack off, laying it on the table. He paused, his hand on it as he blinked. He looked confused.

“Guess I’ll have to find a new way to deal with my problem…”

“ _Problem?_ ” Din asked.

Vanth ran a hand through the silver threads of his hair. “Yeah… Gotta krayt dragon problem back at home… But I… gotta give you the armor…”

He was about to work his way out of the chest plate and tunic when Luke suddenly spoke.

“Wait! A krayt dragon?”

Cobb Vanth paused. “Yeah… Biggest damn krayt dragon I’ve ever heard of. It eats bantha whole. Destroys buildings just by passing them by. With this armor, I’ve been able to protect the town from Tuskens, bandits, and the Collective. Guess it’s no good against a dragon like that…”

Din knew he was within his rights to take the armor and leave Cobb Vanth to his own devices. The armor belonged with a Mandalorian, that was the way. But he sensed what Luke must have felt. Cobb Vanth was attached to this armor for more than power and greed, and he had a disquieting feeling that he wasn’t _freely_ giving it up.

“ _Sit down…_ ” Din said, finally without the edge to his voice. “ _Let’s discuss alternatives._ ”

Luke was leaning forward, still gripping his cup of blue milk, his even bluer eyes fixed on the marshal.

“How big is this krayt dragon? Those things are dangerous as it is!”

Vanth was shaking his head helplessly as he settled back into his seat, a hand slapping onto the table. “Hell if I know. Never see more’n its nasty head above sand. All I know is, this thing’s been a nightmare for some time now…”

While he was listening to Vanth, Din’s attention wandered to what was behind the marshal. Nearly the entire time they had been in the cantina, a group of locals were lingering and looking their way once too often. There were six cohorts, as far as he could tell. 

Cobb Vanth continued. “You fellas help me get rid of it, maybe we can work somethin’ out… As long as that dragon’s around, I need the armor. If there’s no dragon…” He let them reach the conclusion.

It seemed like a fair deal to Din. He was no stranger to slaying monsters, this was a job he was willing to take up. He looked to Luke and found that the young Jedi was looking at him, his eyes bright.

“They need help, Din…” he said softly.

The young rebel, always eager to fight the good fight. Din didn’t think of himself as the heroic type, but if he had the capability to offer assistance, he never was one to walk away. Cobb Vanth was not Mandalorian, but his need for the armor was an honorable one, and his means for acquiring it were—he had to admit—fair. He looked to the marshal again.

“ _All right. We’ll help you. We kill the krayt dragon, and you give us the armor._ ”

“It’s a deal.”

Hands were shaken over the table. Grogu let out a small burp.

Cobb Vanth put back on the pieces of the armor, swallowed down the rest of the spotchka in his cup, and plunked the helmet onto his head. They left together to return to Peli Motto’s hangar. They weren’t alone, though. They had shadows following them from the cantina. It was those same locals who had been staring at them, and Din bristled, calmly rotating the shoulder bag enough to get Grogu behind him, under the cover of his cape.

A quick side glance and he saw that Cobb Vanth had his hand hovering over his own blaster, his face concealed beneath the dented T-Visor helmet. A glance to Luke, however, was less revealing. His husband seemed perfectly calm, his fingers linked together in front of him.

The thugs stepped up quickly from behind, encircling them. They opened fire with no warning, their blaster bolts ricocheting off of both Din and Vanth’s beskar. In the burst of spraying blaster fire, Din had drawn his own blaster and fired back, his other arm dropping to cover Grogu on his hip with the beskar vambrace.

Cobb Vanth was also firing back, dropping into a kneel and taking out one, then two of the bandits, his helmet and chest sparking with the bolts that struck it but could not penetrate. They were more or less protected from the attack, but the bolts were ricocheting from Luke as well. He sure as hell wasn’t armored.

Din looked to see the lightsaber was drawn, a flash of green deflecting any blaster bolts that came their way. One thug had managed to get too close, his weapon pointed at Luke’s head. Before Din had a chance to fire, the lightsaber hummed upward, the thug’s arm, still holding his blaster, dropped to the sand.

Out of the eight bandits that attacked, two managed to limp away in a hurry. Luke, without so much as a hair out of place or shortened breath, stood over the dismembered bandit, the lightsaber thrumming low, his brow furrowed with what appeared to be disappointment.

Din and Cobb Vanth were both staring at him now. For Din’s part, he had no idea that Luke was capable of such controlled savagery. Din had never wanted him so badly.

Cobb Vanth pointed slowly at Luke. “ _Where in the two blazing suns did you get_ that?”

“Maybe I bought it off some Jawas…” Luke was containing a smile. He deactivated the lightsaber and hooked it back onto his belt.

Din felt tiny hands gripping his thigh as Grogu peeked out from under the cape, a small _patu_ coming out. He still didn’t know what that meant, but Grogu seemed elated to see the Jedi in action. So was Din.

“ _Well, looks like I picked the right guys for my posse then_ ,” Vanth chuckled.

* * *

First, Din Djarin and Cobb Vanth were ready to shoot holes in each other over some armor, now they were all riding speeder bikes across the Dune Sea in the evening suns, en route to Mos Pelgo to address a krayt dragon problem.

According to Cobb, it was at least two days on a fast speeder to get to Mos Pelgo, and since they had gotten a late start, they stopped to camp only after three hours of riding. Peli Motto lent them the only speeder bike that she had, which meant Din was at the handles and Luke got to ride behind him and hold on for dear life (why did he always end up the passenger?), and Grogu was in the side pouch, his ears flapping in the wind. The kid was a speed demon, Luke discovered.  
  
Holding on behind Din wasn’t as comfortable as he wished it was. He wanted to wrap his arms around his husband’s wonderful waist, maybe rest his head on Din’s back. But he was wearing his jetpack, which was more than enough to keep him at arm’s length. Being married to an always-armored Mandalorian had some minor drawbacks, but Luke wouldn’t trade it for the galaxy.  
  
They were dismounting from their speeder bikes as the binary suns were dipping over the horizon, and Luke couldn’t help taking a moment to look at the suns setting. He hadn’t seen a binary sunset, since… Well, it was another time.

There was no need to build a fire, not that Tatooine provided any means to. Travelers had to carry their own kindling if they wanted to make a camp. But the nights here were bright in their own right. Few planets showed as many stars as Tatooine at night before the moons rose, the starlight enough to outline whoever stood under them.  
  
Cobb laid flat on the sand beside his bike with the massive pod racer engine, his helmet and jetpack next to his head, his hands resting on his chest, one holding his blaster pistol. Din stayed upright, sitting on the sand, his back against the speeder bike. Luke laid his cloak over the sand alongside his husband and laid on his side, his spine along the length of Din’s leg. The sand was pushed into a small hill to form a pillow under his cloak. Grogu crawled from Din’s lap over Luke to get under his arm. The desert chill was probably bothering him more than ot did the humans, and Luke pulled up the edge of the cloak to wrap it around the child.  
  
Din may have been happy to sleep upright, but Luke was exhausted, and frankly, starving. He hadn’t had a bite of that bantha steak stew and only had a glass of blue milk to tide him over. His stomach was gnawing him from the inside and he sighed, turning unto his back to look up at the stars, Grogu tucked in tight under his arm. The child was already snoring lightly, small fingers gripping at the fabric of Luke’s black shirt.  
  
The sky was suddenly overwhelming. Half of his life had been spent staring at these stars, trying to count them, wondering how many he could visit one day. Now that he had been to so many of them, he realized he never counted. He wasn’t that farm boy anymore, he knew now that life wasn’t quantifiable. He didn’t want to think about the horrors of war he had seen in the galaxy. He cleared his mind and looked only at the beautiful twinkling of the star field above. He wanted to always keep his eyes on the light. And now the events of the day came crawling into his mind and he winced with guilt.  
  
He shouldn’t have tried to use the mind trick on Cobb. That wasn’t fair, and the motives were purely selfish. He just wanted to get the armor for Din, without anyone getting hurt.  
  
“ _You should sleep._ ” Din’s voice was soft next to him.  
  
Luke turned his gaze from the sky to the upside down T-Visor that was looking at him. “Speak for yourself.”  
  
“ _You okay?_ ”  
  
Even in the dark Luke couldn’t hide how he was feeling. He sighed, reaching so that his hand rested on Din’s thigh. Din’s gloved hand set heavily on top of his.  
  
“I’m okay,” Luke said. “It’s just hard not to feel nostalgic being home. It’s the little things that take me back. It’s so easy to forget when you’re always on the move, constantly following one quest after another, then suddenly you’re back where you started, and it just feels so… It’s like the galaxy is quiet for the first time in years. I felt this way the last time I came back to Tatooine. I only came to help rescue Han from Jabba the Hutt, and I camped out in the dunes some time before making my move. It was just me and Artoo then, and I felt the same way as I do now. The me who grew up here just seems like a stranger.”  
  
“ _Hm._ ”  
  
Luke looked at the T-Visor again. He sensed amusement from Din. “You think that’s funny?”  
  
Din shrugged. “ _You’re still Wormie to me._ ”  
  
Luke laughed, the sound causing Grogu to stir, so he put a hand over his mouth to hold it in before he whispered again. “Very funny.”  
  
“Yeah, hilarious.” Cobb’s agitated voice shouted out from a few feet away. “You mind if we cut the pillow talk and get some sleep?”  
  
“Sorry,” Luke was grinning in the dark. He forgot Cobb Vanth was there. He waited a few minutes, hoping maybe Cobb had fallen asleep. “Din…” he whispered as quietly as he could manage and still be heard.  
  
“ _Yeah?_ ” Din’s voice was equally quiet behind the helmet.  
  
“Back at the cantina… I made him decide to give us the armor. It’s a Jedi ability of persuasion… It doesn’t work on everyone, it only usually works on people who are weak minded, or maybe have their guard down. I think it only worked on him because he was drinking and didn’t know I could do it…”  
  
Din was quiet.  
  
“I wanted to tell you, and let you know that I just feel awful. And I know what you’re probably thinking, and no I’ve never used it on you. I swear.”  
Din still didn’t move or respond and Luke’s chest felt tight. He lifted his head a little and squeezed the bounty hunter’s hand that was still in his.  
  
“Din?”  
  
“ _If you say you’ve never used it on me, I believe you. I think it’ll come in handy some day, though._ ”  
  
Luke let out a breath, his head dropping back down again. Din trusted him, he could feel it. He also sensed a bit of that familiar confusion from Din. The Mandalorian was the first to admit he didn’t understand most things having to do with the Jedi, but rarely did that ignorance become fear or suspicion.  
  
It was so rare to meet anyone in the galaxy who wasn’t afraid of the concept of the Jedi.  
  
“Thank you…” he felt compelled to say. “I feel better.”  
  
“Will you two shut your mouth holes and go to sleep?!” Cobb screamed at the sky.  
  
Luke pressed his lips together, still smiling. He finally closed his eyes and quieted his mind to let himself drift off into sleep…  
  
He wasn’t asleep for very long. In fact, he felt like he had only had his eyes closed for a few minutes when the Force pulsed and told him to wake up. Something was coming.  
He opened his eyes to the pale blue light of dawn and found himself staring down the bad end of a gaffi stick, a Tusken Raider’s goggled eyes looking down at him, and he knew that he had the feeling a little too late. His heart stopped, vivid memories of being on the receiving end of one of those sticks sparking fear through him and he reached for his lightsaber.  
  
“ _Don’t!_ ”  
  
Din’s arm pinned him down, the other held up towards the Tusken over them. He gestured with his hand, closing his fingers into a fist before opening it again and cutting it sharply throw the air. The Sand People didn’t attack, but every alarm was screaming in Luke’s head, waiting for the gaffi sticks to swing or rifles to fire, to hear the horrible cry of the Raiders as they attacked without mercy.  
  
“What the—” Cobb Vanth’s groggy voice stirred in the dark nearby. The defensive panic that burst from him filled the air. He drew his blaster and shot one of two Tuskens who stood over him.  
  
Then all hell broke loose. The Tusken who had his stick pointed at Luke brayed loudly and swung with full strength. Luke, with Grogu tucked in tight under his arm, drew his lightsaber. The green light of his weapon screamed into the dawn, illuminating the dunes around them and he swiped the blade in one carefully aimed maneuver, not to kill, but to defend. The gaffi stick was cut clean in half before it could hit its target, and Luke kicked upward with both feet, his boots meeting the raider’s stomach and knocking him into the sand.  
  
He sprang to his feet, his lightsaber twirling and Grogu squeaking in his arm. He braced for another attack, but the Tusken raiders were running away, shouting and climbing onto their banthas, leaving behind the two who had been shot dead by Cobb Vanth.  
  
They fled, but Cobb Vanth was firing at their backs.  
  
“ _Hold your fire!_ ” Din roared at him.  
  
Luke was glad to see Cobb listen and he lowered his weapon.  
  
“That was way too close for comfort…” Cobb was winded, looking over his shoulder to the fleeing raiders as he approached, reholstering his blaster and holding his helmet.  
Din was standing too now and he was quiet, the energy around him curdled.  
  
“Din, you okay?” Luke asked, a little breathless from the adrenaline that pumped through him. He didn’t even realize he still had his lightsaber drawn.   
  
“ _They’re terrified of you,_ ” he said neutrally.  
  
“For now,” Luke sighed and deactivated his weapon, hooking it onto his belt. “We should get moving before they come back with reinforcements.”  
  
“I agree,” said Cobb, putting his helmet back on. “ _Any way I can get my hands on one o’ those?_ ”  
  
“Probably not,” Luke said distractedly.  
  
“ _They think you’re a demon,_ ” Din said, still looking out into the dunes where the raiders had fled.  
  
“How do you know that?”   
  
“ _Because that’s what they called you._ ”  
  
“You can understand those people?” Cobb propped a fist on his tilted hip.  
  
“Well… Maybe it’s for the best that they’re afraid. We’ll be safe, at least…” Luke commented as he looked at the tracks that their attackers left behind.  
  
Din was quiet for a beat, his helmet looking towards the dead Tuskens, then he turned and climbed onto his speeder bike.  
  
“ _Let’s go so they can claim their dead,_ ” he said quietly.  
  
“ _Fine by me,_ ” said Vanth as he headed for his own speeder bike.  
  
Luke took Grogu in both hands, holding him up to better look at his little green face. Though he could reach the child through the Force and feel what he was feeling, he asked anyway.  
  
“You okay?”  
  
The baby whined a little, uneasy but calmer than Luke was. The Jedi blew out an exhale and shook his head.  
  
“As if a humongous krayt dragon wasn’t enough…” He set Grogu into his side pouch on the speeder bike so that he could retrieve his cloak from the ground. He shook it a few times, trying to get the sand out.  
  
Din, meanwhile, sat mounted on the speeder bike, one leg outstretched to balance. He was quiet. Maybe Din just wasn’t used to the dangers of Tatooine.  
  
“Sand People are always a threat out in the desert, you know,” Luke felt the need to explain.  
  
“ _We’re the trespassers._ ”  
  
“ _Tell that to all the people they’ve killed in my town when_ they _raided_ us,” Cobb’s voice clipped through his helmet’s modulator.  
  
“He’s right, Din…” Luke didn’t want to argue with his husband. He climbed onto the speeder bike behind him. “They’re not afraid to kill, especially moisture farmers. I spent my life here trying to survive them...”  
  
“ _They’ve spent thousands of generations trying to survive as well._ ”  
  
Din was defensive and it was quickly dawning on Luke that his own bias was making him blind, that maybe Din was more familiar with Tatooine than Luke was giving him credit for. The conversation was ended when they revved their speeder bikes and continued along the dunes. The first of the suns was beginning to breech the horizon now, the light spilling over and making the sand glow.  
  
Something was hurting Din from that encounter with the Sand People, and Luke didn’t have to reach out through the Force very far to see why. There was a sense of kinship that Din felt for them. Not that he knew them personally, but he understood them in a way that Luke had never considered. They were a people brutal by necessity, powerfully religious, and held by strong honor codes. They were nomadic in order to survive. It was said that Tusken Raiders were forbidden to show their faces. Now that was familiar.  
Luke realized that even on his own home world, he still had so much to learn.

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be one work with a chapter for each episode in Season 2, but it grew and grew. So I'm going to try to write a separate story for each chapter. Lord help me, this will last a while. I hope you guys don't get tired of it! I just wanna see what happens if Luke is there too.


End file.
